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How Cervical Selective Nerve Root Blocks Can Ease Neck Pain

A pinched nerve in your neck (cervical spine) may result in neck, shoulder, and/or arm pain. In response, your doctor may advise you to get a cervical nerve root block injection to help locate the nerve that is pinched, and also to relieve your pain.

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When one or more of your nerves is irritated, you may feel pain in your neck that radiates down through your shoulders, arms, hands, and fingers (pictured above). A cervical selective nerve root block can help your doctor locate the nerve that is causing your pain.

The procedure

To begin a cervical selective nerve root block procedure, your physician may give you a sedative. He or she will then have you lie face down, and will proceed to inject a local anesthetic into your skin over the painful area.

Outcomes from a cervical selective nerve root block procedure

If the injection described above helps with your pain, then you and your doctor can likely conclude that the correct nerve has been identified.

Although the effects of the anesthetic wear off relatively quickly, the effects of the steroid shot typically last for a longer period of time. This in turn can help reduce inflammation (and thereby relieve your pain), and also promote the healing of the irritated nerve.